“As soon as the ransom is completed, you will be pleased to have the captives well clothed and sent home at the expense of the United States, with as much economy as will consist with their reasonable comfort.”[257] Commodore Paul Jones--called Admiral in the instructions--died without entering upon these duties, and they were afterwards undertaken by Colonel Humphreys, our minister at Lisbon, honored especially with the friendship of Washington, and an accomplished officer of his staff during the Revolution. The terms demanded by the Dey were such as to render the mission unsuccessful. Meanwhile the Algerines seized other of our citizens, who are described as “employed as captive slaves on the most laborious work, in a distressed and naked situation.”[258] One of their number, in a letter to the President, dated at Algiers, November 5, 1793, says:-- “Humanity towards the unfortunate American captives, I presume, will induce your Excellency to coöperate with Congress to adopt some speedy and effectual plan in order to restore to liberty and finally extricate the American captives from their present distresses.”[259] At this time one hundred and nineteen American slaves in Algiers united in a petition to Congress, dated December 29, 1793, where they say:-- “Your petitioners are at present captives in this city of bondage, employed daily on the most laborious work, without any respect to persons.… They pray you will take their unfortunate situation into consideration, and adopt such measures as will restore the American captives to their country, their friends, families, and connections.”[260]